2 Corinthians 5:21 (AMP)
21 He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious loving kindness].
Talk about the great exchange, this is it. When Christ uttered the words “It is finished!” on the cross, a great exchange happened in the spiritual world that changed the nature of any man who would believe forever. Christ who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf and endured the punishment because the bible says that the wages of sin is death.
In Him then, you and I who have believed have received His righteousness. We have been accepted and made to be in right standing with God through Christ Jesus. This is the free gift that God has given us, it is complete in itself and there is nothing we can add to it. Many times we assume that we are righteous or even more righteous than others because of the things we do. Going to church, praying for longer hours, giving and reading the bible are all great things that are part of our lifestyle but it is not in doing these things that we are made righteous. Righteousness can only be found through faith in the complete work of Christ on the cross on our behalf.
Through this great exchange, we have been made new, we have a new nature, the nature of Christ which is righteousness, and thus we can declare that we are righteous in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].
Because I believe that I have been made new, I no longer look to my former life as a point of reference. Forgetting those things that are behind, Instead I look to Gods word and what it says about me. As I do that then I download new software for this new man as my mind is being renewed day by day.
Through Christ I am a totally new person with a new identity a new nature and a new future. Sin and darkness is no longer my default nature, I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!
